2011 WalterFootball.com NFL Awards

Aaron Rodgers won the real MVP award, but Drew Brees has my MVP vote, which means much, much more.

Look, I'm not saying Brees is better than Rodgers by any means. If I had to pick one quarterback to start a team with, it would be Rodgers. But that's irrelevant in an MVP discussion.

Brees was more valuable to the Saints than Rodgers was to the Packers. If you take Brees off New Orleans, that team becomes the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts. If you remove Rodgers from Green Bay, the Packers would still have a shot at the playoffs.

I just wrote that if I had to pick any quarterback in the NFL to start a team with, it would be Aaron Rodgers, so he obviously wins this award.

Rodgers arguably played better than any signal-caller in league history over the first three months of the season. Not only did he make impossible throws with exact precision; he also scrambled for big chunks of yardage when he needed to. He's the ultimate dual-threat quarterback.

The Jaguars were a brutal team to watch this year. Their quarterback closed his eyes when attempting passes, and his receivers couldn't get open. The head coach was fired, while the defense suffered way too many injuries. The one person keeping Jacksonville afloat was Maurice Jones-Drew, the NFL's leading rusher by about 250 yards (1,606).

I have so much respect for Jones-Drew. He could have easily packed it in, but he gave 100-percent effort week in and week out.

Ah, so that's what happens when Calvin Johnson has a healthy quarterback throwing to him for 16 games. Megatron was unstoppable in 2011, catching 96 balls for a league-leading 1,681 yards and 16 touchdowns. He's a freak of nature and should be winning this award many times over the next decade.

Rob Gronkowski gets the edge over Jimmy Graham because of his blocking ability. The Gronk was an animal, hauling in 90 receptions for 1,327 yards and a record 17 touchdowns. He caught 74.4 percent of the passes thrown to him - which led the league for any tight end with 40 or more receptions. Graham, by the way, was at 67.8 percent.

Joe Thomas had an "off" year, yet still wins this award as the best left tackle in football. Thomas surrendered just three sacks and 15 quarterback pressures in 16 games. It's just a shame that he doesn't have a legitimate quarterback to block for. That will change if Cleveland obtains Robert Griffin.

Nick Mangold's absence was felt when he missed three games early in the year with an injury. After he came back, he surrendered only one sack and was a force in the running game. Like former Jets' center Kevin Mawae, Mangold has now won this award three consecutive years.

When you come within one sack of setting the single-season record in that category, you really deserve to win Defensive End of the Year. Jared Allen's 22 sacks were especially remarkable when you consider that the Vikings seldom had the lead in 2011. Imagine what he could have done if the opposing quarterbacks were often in catch-up mode.

Justin Smith technically plays defensive end in the 3-4, but if he can be voted in as an All-Pro at defensive tackle, then he sure as hell can win the highly coveted Defensive Tackle of the Year award. Smith wreaked havoc upon opposing quarterbacks, as he was constantly in the backfield. His 48 quarterback pressures were more than Jared Allen accumulated.

This award hardly deserves explanation. Patrick Willis is an absolute stud with no weaknesses. He's a dominating presence on the football field, as he and Justin Smith did a phenomenal job of transforming San Francisco's defense into the league's premier stop unit.

Want to hear two crazy stats? When targeting Darrelle Revis in 2011, opposing signal-callers completed only 41.2 percent of their passes and maintained a quarterback rating of 45.6. The lesson: Stay away from Revis Island!

San Diego's pass defense was a disgrace, but don't blame Eric Weddle. He intercepted seven passes and surrendered only one touchdown. I guess the "Weddle isn't a play-maker" critics don't have anything to say anymore.

It's cliche to give Troy Polamalu the Strong Safety of the Year award, but he deserves it. Polamalu had more responsibilities than usual this year because the front seven couldn't generate consistent pressure on the quarterback, yet he still was able to perform on a Pro Bowl level.

David Akers had a miserable playoff performance against the Packers in January 2011 because of dire family issues. Andy Reid threw him under the bus, so Akers could have easily packed it in and called it a career. Instead, he went to San Francisco and set the NFL's single-season points record.

All Cam Newton did in 2011 was break Peyton Manning's rookie passing yards record. And yet, everyone thought Newton was either going to bust or take a couple of years to develop. The NFL Draft - the ultimate crapshoot.

Von Miller would have easily won this award had the NFL season concluded around Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, he broke his thumb and struggled after he came back. Aldon Smith, meanwhile, finished really strong. He was fifth in the NFL with 14 sacks, including 6.5 in the final five weeks. He also had a pair of sacks in the playoffs.

Some candidates include Marshawn Lynch, Willis McGahee and Antonio Brown, but those three players weren't discussed as a possible MVP candidate in the middle of the season. Fred Jackson was. He rushed for 917 yards and caught 34 passes for 392 receiving yards in just nine games, averaging 5.5 YPC in the process. Jackson was on pace to lead in the NFL in rushing, but suffered a season-ending injury at Miami.

The Bills thought so little of Jackson a couple of years ago that they drafted C.J. Spiller in the top 10, yet Jackson held him off and carried his team to a surprising quick start.

Jason Pierre-Paul had just four sacks as a rookie. He was an afterthought heading into the 2011 campaign; he wasn't even on the Pro Bowl ballot when it was first released. Despite this, Pierre-Paul registered 16.5 sacks, becoming one of the most feared pass-rushers in the league.

The Patriots made two signings this past offseason that made the front page of the news. Albert Haynesworth and Chad Ochocinco were brought in to much fanfare, but neither did anything. At least No. 85 made it through the whole season on the roster. Haynesworth was cut in the middle of the year. He signed with the Buccaneers, who didn't win a single game after they added him.

Prior to 2011, Willis McGahee hadn't rushed for more than 700 yards since 2007. His YPC in 2010 plummeted to 3.8. It looked like he was done, as well-known fantasy Web sites dubbed McGahee as a "rotational back" and a "RB4 at best." So much for that. McGahee compiled 1,199 rushing yards on a 4.8 YPC, proving that he still has something left in the tank.

Another nod to Maurice Jones-Drew. How a great player like him could get up for every game while surrounded by scrub teammates and a head coach who didn't care is beyond me. And to top it off, Jones-Drew was coming off a knee injury that had many fantasy owners shying away from him in their drafts.

"Tim Tebow can't throw the football." "You can't win football games with Tim Tebow." "Tim Tebow should be playing fullback." "Tim Tebow is the worst quarterback in the NFL." Those are quotes from Keyshawn Johnson, Cris Carter, Merril Hoge and Bomani Jones (the last idiotic statement from the brain-dead Jones). And that's just from the media. Tebow's coaches and general manager didn't even support him. Despite this, all he did was win football games and lead the Broncos to the second round of the playoffs even though he was playing with a horrific offensive line and a depleted receiving corps.

Jay Cutler was lost for the regular season around Thanksgiving, but no worries - the Bears still had Caleb Hanie, who looked great in the NFC Championship. They'd be fine! Yeah, not so much. In just four starts, Hanie tossed a whopping nine interceptions and completed only 50 percent of his passes with a 6.0 YPA. He was absolutely awful. It's amazing how he went from being a promising, young quarterback to possible CFL fodder in the span of a year.

This award is for the player who was the Scrub of the Week the most times on my NFL Power Rankings page. Two players were Scrub of the Week thrice, LeGarrette Blount and Chris Johnson.

Both Blount and Johnson were disappointing fantasy running backs. Blount, as we reported in our NFL Draft Rumor Mill section, didn't give much effort. CJ2K, meanwhile, had issues getting to 1K after holding out for a huge contract.

This award is for the players who were listed first at their position the most times as a top weekly fantasy player on my NFL Power Rankings page. There were three players listed a whopping five times: Arian Foster, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Rodgers. Tom Brady (4) almost joined them.

This is an easy choice. The 49ers were a miserable 6-10 in 2010. Jim Harbaugh improved the team to 13-3 and came a couple of Kyle Williams special-teams gaffes away from reaching the Super Bowl. What was most amazing was Harbaugh's work with Alex Smith. No one had any faith in Smith as an NFL starter, but Harbaugh transformed the former No. 1 overall pick into a solid quarterback.

This is what Wade Phillips was born to do. Phillips shouldn't be a head coach, but he's a brilliant defensive mind who helped the Texans' stop unit improve by leaps and bounds despite the fact that Mario Williams missed most of the season.

I don't have Aaron Rodgers as the MVP, so I'll make it up to him and Packer fans by giving him the WalterFootball.com and Quarterback of the Year awards. What Rodgers did from September to the beginning of December was just sick. I had never seen a quarterback play on his level before. Some of the throws he made were jaw-dropping, and his rushing ability made him extra lethal. If he had any sort of defense supporting him, his team would probably celebrating its second consecutive Super Bowl victory.